Personally, I think elders are entitled to more dignity and respect. We all deserve a medal. Why? Well, all of us seniors have survived longer than these kids aged forty or younger.

 We all got through tough times and survived. In the 30's, Depression didn't mean ' I feel miserable,please look after me.'

It meant the Economy is bad, you probably had no job or had fears of losing one. You had trouble getting enough food to go on the table.Some of us had to exist on bread,dripping,stewed tea leaves. The good thing is, we didn't have to worry about Losing weight or hiring dieticians.Anyone who survived this time deserves a medal.

 We had to survive long working hours and short shopping times.

We had to learn how to protect ourselves.Some of us  got beaten by bullies and  it hurt, but we learned to run or hide or fight back.

 When we were punished mostly we realized we had deserved it.

We won and we lost and  sometimes we learned from our mistakes and tried to do better next time. We didn't have to blame someone else.

 And we knew that we had to work hard and look after our kids and we did not usually expect  repayment apart from the joy of raising them and seeing them do well.

 Aren't these the attributes of heroes? Too right.

 So we deserve recognition. We deserve to be able to forget that we forget,sometimes.

 We deserve to be able to ignore the fact we can't race across pedestrian crossings.

  We deserve a medal for all we have done.Making it to our Age is an achievement,an amazing achievement.

We all deserve a medal! Don't you agree?

He has silver hair,wrinkles and he is a candidate for a top managerial job.

But the word is that he was a POW, had cancer,forgets things getting weaker, slower. But the other candidate for this job is younger,intelligent and funny.

The word is,The old bloke is over the hill,he is too old for the job.

Probably heard this refrain before. It is occurring again,this time because the Republican candidate Mr McCain for the job of  President of the USA is 72 years old.

Well this line of attack is just Discrimination akin to Racism Bigotry.Sexism.

 Not acceptable. McCain has already shown he is tough enough to handle this challenging job. He has the right to be judged on his vision,his message,his leadership. His age is irrelevant.

Andy Youngman

I heard the horn blast and wondered what was going on. I looked down the road,saw an elderly lady struggling to negotiate a pedestrian crossing. The lights had just gone red and someone was blasting his horn. The lady puffed and panted as she tried to speed up.

. Made me think how  hard it is to get across these pedestrian crossings,you have to walk quickly to make it in the short time allowed.

 Also really undignified. Why is it that the Roads and Traffic Authority can't allow seniors and the disabled the time to get across these crossings at a comfortable pace?

Actually this violates the UN Declaration on Human Rights Article 1. " All human beings are born freeand equal in dignity and rights. "

Strange that the government we elect to protect our rights, breaks them don't  you think?

Andy Youngman 

Hello,my name is Andy Youngman and I am your new guest blogger. I would like to say hello and tell you a little about myself.

Mostly what I like to do is help people.

 Example,after leaving school one of my first jobs was as a fruit picker in Tasmania. I  was hitchhiking and got a lift from a raspberry farmer in desperate need of pickers. I was happy to help him out. Wasn't too bad,most of the raspberrries went into the bin, but a lot fed the birds.

Afterwards, landed in Melbourne, got a fill in job and for exercise took up boxing in a local gym.One of the volunteer supervisors told me he wanted to manage professional boxers and he asked me to join his group. I did this to help out and I agreed to a fight in the Melbourne stadium . Fortunately  the ref stopped the fight in the second round because my opponent was exhausted from hitting me. That ended my boxing career.

 Then I  got into something I was good at, Human Rights campaigning. Did some good things.e.g. I helped some Muslims get an okay to build their mosque.Helped get some involuntary patients out of a hospital because they did not need to be there.Got some repressive laws changed. That sort of thing.

 So that's  what I used to do. However as I am now a senior  I retired recently and am now interested in doing something for other seniors subjected to abuses of their human rights. If you know of any such instance please contact me. 

Andy

Australian bosses, so it seems, will soon have the right (and responsibility) to check their workers’ emails. The new scheme is all part of improving national security, according to our Government.
I can’t help thinking that, in the realm of stupid propositions, this has to be right up near the top.
Firstly, assuming that the checks will be on emails sent to and from the workplace, how’s the “boss” going to find time for his own work if he has to spy on his workers? I can’t see how he could be permitted to appoint a staff member to spy on his or her mates.
I suppose, though, that someone will soon invent software that searches incoming and outgoing mail for mention of sedition, or a range of other crimes such as industrial spying, or pornography, or even illicit romances.
But, surely, our civilisation has reached a pitiful level if government feels the need to instruct employers to spy on their workforce!
Anyway, why don’t they install whopping great computers and spies to vet all of the nation’s emails and phone calls, as is said to be done in the U.S?
What a pity it is that we can’t all grow up!

As an ex newspaper man, Mike has finally retired a second time. This time as our resident SIG (Special Interest Group) manager here. We wish him well for the future and thank him for his valued contribution to greypathers.

We are thinking about making this a guest blog spot, where each guest has there say  for some months and then moves on. 

People say funny things when under pressure - like the Melbourne Cup TV commentator, t'other day, talking about a jockey due to ride in the big race, having had a disappointing first try, years ago. . . . ."He fell off last time he tried this race  - But he bounced right back up again!".

Of course, we all knew what he meant.

Then there was the man who wrote about the Melbourne Cup race that almost didn't happen, because od a downpour that flooded the bookmakers' enclosure, about half an hour from the start. . . . "It was alright though. The bookies and the stewards had a very intense conference and then the rain stopped!" he wrote.

In fact, this year's was a great Melbourne Cup - horse 'flu notwithstanding. The field was good, the weatther was terriffic, none of the riders fell off, and it was a great finish. Not just that, but the ladies, in the current fashion, looked smarter than they have for years (in my humble opinion, that is)